Kia ora Parents and Whānau
Haere Mai, warm Pacific greetings and welcome to the 2023 school year. After a disrupted couple of years due to Covid, it has been very pleasing to have a settled start to the year. We have been lucky to avoid the weather disruption that has occurred in Te Ika-a-Māui around the East Coast and Hawkes Bay and our thoughts have certainly been with those communities, schools and whānau who have been affected. We have about 300 boys who have joined us in Year 9 and they have made an excellent start to the year. We had a mihi whakatau on the first day to welcome our new students and their whānau. I’d like to thank our Board Chairperson, Iaean Cranwell and kapa haka roopu for providing a warm introduction to our new whānau.
We have a number of new teachers joining us in 2023. We welcome Mr Whitehead, Mr Davie, and Mr McKee in Science; Mr Peawini and Miss Smith in Health and Physical Education; Ms McDonald and Mrs Poon in English; Mr Keelty in Music; Mr Thorn in Food Technology; Mr Williams as HOD Guidance and Ms Rough as the Deans’ Administrator.
The NCEA results for 2022 were mixed. Our Level 2 and 3 results were pleasing and are at or above national results and schools similar to us which is consistent with previous years. There was disappointment about our Year 11 results but when these are compared with similar decile schools and nationally, they are similar. It is becoming quite clear that the impact of three years of disrupted learning for our Year 11 cohort has had an effect on their achievement.
As we do a deeper dive into our results from 2022 it is clear that attendance is crucial to doing well. Looking in a bit more detail at our Year 11 achievement shows that 85% of boys who attended school regularly, which is more than 85% of the time, gained their NCEA Level 1. If you attend less than 70% of the time it is very difficult to achieve.
However, there are a number of boys who have done extremely well and I do want to congratulate all the boys who have been successful. They worked well last year, managed their time well, coped with challenges and gave everything a go. They should be very proud of their achievement.
Shirley Boys' High School will be closed on 24th April. This is to provide a convenient occasion for families to extend their holidays prior to Anzac Day which is the Tuesday after we return from school holidays.
Ngā mihi nui
Tim Grocott